Cycling and urban traffic management and control systems

Since the 1950s, cycling has been a declining mode of travel in the United Kingdom. During this same period, sophisticated techniques for managing traffic in the urban environment have been developed. Given these circumstances, the presence of cyclists is often ignored by urban traffic control (UTC) systems, which are dominated by consideration of the flows and journey times of private motorized vehicles. Authorities are enthusiastic about the promotion of cycling as a mode of travel and are looking to see if this can be assisted by use of traffic management systems. The fact that cyclists and potential cyclists vary considerably in their abilities and performance, as well as in their attitudes to timesaving and safety, is highlighted. The context of the problem is set, the specific issue of detection of cycles is examined, the potential for implementation of priority measures in different types of UTC systems is discussed, and the issue is illustrated with some actual installations. Limited European evidence would suggest that only minimum effort is needed to take explicit account of cycling when a UTC system is being implemented. This supports the idea that cyclists can be given a higher degree of consideration within a UTC system without incurring significant additional costs. Only when cycling achieves a near-dominant proportion of the trips within a city and is growing in volume, as is the case in China, is explicit consideration to cyclists given.